Method and equipment for manufacturing reinforced fiber textile

ABSTRACT

A method for producing a reinforcing fiber woven fabric of the invention is a method for producing a reinforcing fiber  1  for weaving the reinforcing fiber as at least a warp  2 . The yarn width of at least the warp  2  constituting the woven fabric is widened in the direction of the weft  3  by reciprocating cylindrical bodies  4  in the direction of the warp  2  of the woven fabric while rolling the cylindrical bodies 4 in a pressurization state to the woven fabric  1    
     A apparatus for producing a reinforcing fiber woven fabric of the invention comprising: a guide roller  5  which comes into contact with the surface of a reinforcing woven fabric continuously passing through at a predetermined winding angle and rotates; a plurality of cylindrical bodies  4  rotatably supported on the woven fabric which comes into contact with the surface of the guide roller  5 ; and driving parts  6  to  10  for reciprocating the cylindrical bodies in the direction of the warp  2  of the woven fabric.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to the improvement of a method for producing areinforcing fiber woven fabric and an apparatus thereof. Particularly,the invention relates to the improvement of a method for producing areinforcing fiber and an apparatus adding an improvement to the wideningof the yarn width when producing a reinforcing fiber woven fabric usefulas a base material for fiber reinforced plastics

BACKGROUND ART

Conventionally, one having a form of woven fabric has been abundantlyused as an intermediate base material when producing a fiber reinforcedplastic. In the woven fabric for reinforcement, a thin reinforcing fiberyarn is used for a warp and a weft so as to reduce crimp due to theinterlacing of the warp and weft as much as possible to exhibit highintensity expression.

Since a thin yarn causes the low productivity of the yarn itself andwoven fabric when the reinforcing fiber is particularly a carbon fiberyarn, the reinforcing woven fabric and has been mainly used for anairplane use or the like having large weight saving effect.

However, the low cost of the material is strongly hammered out due tothe stagnation of the latest aircraft industry, and the appearance ofinexpensive carbon fiber woven fabric has been desired.

Under such a condition, a carbon fiber flat yarn woven fabric obtainedby interlacing thick carbon fiber yarns in a flat shape has beenproposed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A)No. 6-136632. Since the woven fabric is woven in large woven pitch byusing the carbon fiber yarn of the thick fineness of inexpensivemanufacture cost, the productivity of the woven fabric is also high, andthe inexpensive woven fabric can be provided. Also, the high strength isexhibited since the crimp at the interlacing point of the weaving yarnis also small.

However, since a lot of multi-filament consisting of the carbon fiberconverged by few sizing agent such that the yarn bundle section is theflat shape, the flat yarn bundle is crushed by the weaving step so as itmakes the yarn narrower, and a gap is generated between the weavingyarns in the woven fabric. Therefore, the woven fabric is used andformed into a fiber reinforced composite material molded object(hereinafter, referred to as molded object), the molded object in whichthe resin is unevenly dispersed between the weaving yarns is obtained.The molded object having the high content of the carbon fiber is notobtained. Also, when the stress acts on the molded object, a portion inwhich the resin is unevenly dispersed becomes the starting point ofdestruction, and high mechanical property is not exhibited. Since aportion where a resin is unevenly dispersed in a molded object isgreatly shrunk by the consolidation of the resin, a molded object inwhich the resin is unevenly dispersed is depressed, and unevenness isgenerated on the surface of the molded object.

Examples of the factors in which the gap is formed between the weavingyarns include the followings.

(1) A gap is generated around fine narrow yarn by the changing of theyarn width of a carbon fiber flat yarn itself.

(2) When a bobbin around which a carbon fiber yarn is wound is unwound,a temporal twist is mixed by the winding curl, and the twist partresults in narrower, thereby the gap generated between the weavingyarns.

(3) A related position of a heddle for opening the warp and a dent isshifted, and the width of the warp becomes narrow. The gap is generatedbetween the weaving yarns.

(4) When the weft is beat, the width of the weft becomes narrow, and thegap is generated between the wefts.

Conventionally, for such problems, the method for performing therotational movement of many spherical bodies under a pressurizationstate to closed the opening point of the woven fabric after making thewoven fabric is proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A)No. 2-307965.

According to the method, since the yarn bundle of the weaving yarn isconverged as the section of the bundle is almost a circular shape in thewoven fabric in which the thin carbon fiber yarn having the number offilaments of about 3,000 is woven in the small weaving yarn pitch, theyarn width is widened by pushing the weaving yarn at the convex part ofthe spherical body, and the opening is closed.

However, in the woven fabric having large weaving yarn pitch like theflat yarn woven fabric consisting of the carbon fiber, the convex partof the spherical body (central part of the ball) may be located betweenthe flat weaving yarns. Since the convex part of the spherical body isrolled between the weaving yarns in that condition, the operation forenlarging the gap between the weaving yarns acts, and the yarn width isnarrowed on the contrary. Since the rotation of the spherical body isnot lightly rotated by friction with a positioning mesh, the wovenfabric slippage is easily generated by the movement of the sphericalbody in the flat yarn woven fabric where the binding force between thewarp and the weft is weak and the woven fabric slippage is easily andsimply generated.

Thereby, the above prior art has a fault, and the appearance of theproducing method adding the improvement to the producing method andapparatus is desired when the flat yarn woven fabric made of the carbonfiber which has large weaving yarn pitch as the reinforcing fiber andeasily generates the woven fabric slippage is used.

It is an object of the invention to solve the above conventionalproblems and provide the method and the apparatus for producing thereinforcing fiber woven fabric which has no opening between the weavingyarns and in which the reinforcing fiber is uniformly dispersed byadding an effective yarn width widening method in the producing stepwhen producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric using the flat yarn asthe weaving yarn.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

So as to attain the above object, the method for producing thereinforcing fiber woven fabric of the invention is as follows.

In a method for producing a reinforcing fiber woven fabric in which areinforcing fiber is woven as at least a warp, the method comprises thestep of reciprocating a cylindrical body in the direction of the warp ofthe woven fabric on the woven fabric while the cylindrical body isrolled in a pressurization state to the woven fabric to widen the yarnwidth at least of the warp constituting the woven fabric in thedirection of a weft.

In the method for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric, thepressure force of the cylindrical body to the woven fabric is preferably100 to 2000 g per 1 cm of the length of the axial direction of thecylindrical body.

In the method for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric, awidening rate for widening the yarn width of the warp in the directionof the weft is preferably 2 to 50%.

In the method for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric, it ispreferable that thick reinforcing fiber yarns of non-twist having afineness of 400 to 4000 TEX are arranged in a weaving yarn pitch of 5 to32 mm, and the fineness and weaving yarn pitch of the reinforcing fiberyarn have the following relationship.P=k−T ^(1/2)

wherein P: weaving yarn pitch (mm),

-   -   T: fineness of reinforcing fiber (TEX),    -   k: (18 to 50)×10⁻².

In the method for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric, it ispreferable that thick reinforcing fiber yarns of non-twist having afineness of 400 to 4,000 TEX are arranged in a weaving yarn pitch of 4to 16 mm; the woven fabric is a uni-directional woven fabric integratedby the weft yarn of a thin auxiliary yarn having a fineness of 1 to 30TEX; and the fineness and weaving yarn pitch of the reinforcing fiberyarn have the following relationship.P=k−T ^(1/2)

wherein P: weaving yarn (warp yarn) pitch (mm),

-   -   T: fineness of reinforcing fiber (TEX),    -   k: (10 to 28)×10⁻².

In the method for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric, thereinforcing fiber is preferably a carbon fiber.

In the method for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric, thenumber of filaments of the carbon fiber is preferably 6000 to 50000.

In the method for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric, it ispreferable that multiple cylindrical bodies are alternately staggered inthe direction of the warp to widen the yarn width of the woven fabric.

In the method for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric, it ispreferable that the woven fabric is moved in the direction of the warpalong the surface of a guide roller capable of being rotated tocontinuously widen the yarn width of the woven fabric contacting withthe surface of the guide roller.

In the method for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric, the yarnwidth is preferably widened between a cloth fell of a loom and a windingroll of the woven fabric.

In the method for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric, it ispreferable that an average speed for reciprocating the cylindrical bodyis set at 50 to 300 mm/second.

In the method for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric, it ispreferable that the woven fabric is a flat yarn woven fabric having awarp and a weft consisting of a carbon fiber yarn and having a flatwoven fabric of plain weave, the method comprising the steps of: openingand widening the weft by air jet injection from injection holes alignedin the direction of the weft of the woven fabric; and widening the yarnwidth in the direction of the weft by any one of the above methods.

In the method for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric, it ispreferable that the method comprising: a weaving step of weaving a wovenfabric while inserting a low melting point resin fiber in the directionof a warp or a weft; a widening step of widening a yarn width accordingto any one of the description above; and a sticking step of heating thewoven fabric to the softening point or melting point of the low meltingpoint resin fiber or higher to stick the reinforcing fibers with eachother or a reinforcing fiber and an auxiliary yarn by the low meltingpoint resin.

In the above method for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric (ofcourse, the widening step is contained in this producing method), it ispreferable that the method further comprises the step of applying andadhering a powdery or fibrous resin on one side or both sides of thereinforcing fiber woven fabric, and the adhering amount of the resin is2 to 20% by weight of the woven fabric.

Next, so as to attain the above object, the apparatus for producing thereinforcing fiber woven fabric of the invention is as follows.

An apparatus for producing a reinforcing fiber woven fabric, comprises:a guide roller which comes into contact with the surface of areinforcing woven fabric continuously passing through at a predeterminedwinding angle and rotates; a plurality of cylindrical bodies rotatablysupported on the woven fabric which comes into contact with the surfaceof the guide roller; and a driving part for reciprocating thecylindrical bodies in the direction of the warp of the woven fabric.

In the apparatus for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric, it ispreferable that the cylindrical body has a diameter of 10 to 40 mm and alength of 10 to 50 mm, and cylindrical bodies are alternately staggeredin the direction of the warp of the woven fabric.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view for explaining the method of theinvention.

FIG. 2 is a partial-sectional view for explaining a principle of themethod of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an embodiment for continuouslyperforming the method of the invention on a loom.

FIG. 4 is a plane view for explaining an arranging method for acylindrical body of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view for explaining an embodiment of anapparatus of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SYMBOLS IN THE DRAWINGS

1: woven fabric

2: warp

3: weft

4: cylindrical body

5: guide roller

6: cylindrical body supporting arm

7: reciprocation coupling rod

8: pressing member

9: guide

10: compression spring

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, the best mode of the invention will be described by usingexamples, comparative examples and accompanying drawings of theinvention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view for explaining the method for producing areinforcing fiber woven fabric using a yarn width widening method as thefeature of the invention.

In FIG. 1, numeral 1 designates a woven fabric using a reinforcing wovenfabric for a fiber reinforced plastic, and a so-called bi-directionalwoven fabric obtained by interlacing a warp 2 and a weft 3 of areinforced yarn each other and weaving them. Since the bi-directionalwoven fabric 1 itself can be woven by a known method, such as using arapier loom, the explanation to the weaving step is omitted herein.

Numeral 4 designates a cylindrical body for widening the woven fabric 1in the direction of the weft 3 (the direction of an arrow A of FIG. 1)and having a dumbbell shape. In the example, a plurality of cylindricalbodies are arranged in parallel so that the rotating shafts arecorresponded to the direction of the weft of the woven fabric, and thewoven fabric 1 is widened by reciprocating the cylindrical bodies in thedirection of the warp 2 (the direction of an arrow B) in thepressurization state of a suitable pressing force to the woven fabric 1.The width of the each weaving yarns is widened by the widening step, andthereby a uniform woven fabric having no gap between the weaving yarnsis obtained.

As the pressurization method of the cylindrical body 4 of this case tothe woven fabric 1, the woven fabric 1 can be pressurized, for example,by a spring or an air cylinder. Though the widening effect is preferablylarge when the pressure force is high as much as possible, there is aproblem which shags are generated when the pressure force is too highand particularly the reinforcing fiber is the carbon fiber, and the loadof 100 to 2000 g per 1 cm of the length of the cylindrical body ispreferably applied in a direction perpendicular to the surface of thewoven fabric.

Faster a speed for reciprocating the cylindrical body 4 is, more manytimes the cylindrical body 4 can pass the same parts of the wovenfabric, and higher the widening effect can be. However, thereciprocation of the cylindrical body is mechanically limited, and thespeed of the reciprocation (the product of amplitude (mm) and frequency(time/second)) is preferably 50 to 300 mm/second. So as to reciprocatethe same parts of the woven fabric frequently as much as possible insuch speed range, sequences of plural cylindrical bodies are arranged.Thereby, reciprocation with the plural cylindrical bodies results in thesame movement with passing though the same parts of the woven fabricplural times, and the high effect is obtained in spite of lessfrequency. Though the widening effect can be obtained by the method forreducing the amplitude to enlarge the frequency as the wideningcondition, it is necessary to widen the woven fabric in the range wherethe widening operation is very short distance, and thereby the wovenfabric cannot be fully widened.

On the other hand, since the yarn widening is sequentially performedover a long distance by enlarging the amplitude, the width can beuniformly and greatly widened. The amplitude is preferably 10 to 100 mm,and more preferably about 20 to about 50 mm.

FIG. 1 shows the case where the woven fabric is in a rest state, and inthis case, the cylindrical body 4 is sequentially moved in the directionof the arrow C while the cylindrical body 4 is reciprocated in thedirection of the arrow B, and the woven fabric can be moved off by asuitable means when the yarn width widening of a woven fabric intervalis completed. In this case, though the cylindrical body 4 may bereciprocated while being rolled, the cylindrical body 4 may be moved toone direction without reciprocating. It is preferable to move thecylindrical body 4 while reciprocating since large effect is obtained bythe movement passing through the same parts of the woven fabric pluraltimes.

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view for explaining a widening principlefor widening the weaving yarn in the width direction, and shows acutting plane in the direction of the weft 3 of the woven fabric 1coming into contact with the cylindrical body 4. As shown in FIG. 2 (a),the narrow width W1 of the warp 2 means that the section of thereinforcing fiber bundle has the ellipse form closed to circular and thewoven fabric has a shape swelling up to the thickness direction. Whenthe swelling portion is vertically pressurized in the direction of anarrow by the cylindrical body 4 to the surface of the woven fabric, thereinforcing fiber bundle of the warp 2 is pushed out in the direction ofthe weft 3. As shown in FIG. 2 (b), the yarn width of the weft 2 iswidened and is set to W2. When the cylindrical body 4 is rolled in thedirection of the warp 2 in such a state, the yarn width of the warp 2can be sequentially widened in the direction of the weft 3. When boththe warp 2 and the weft 3 are a reinforcing fiber and the warp 2 and theweft 3 interlace each other, the warp 2 and the weft 3 resist thewidening of the yarn width due to the interlace. Thereby, it isdifficult to widen the yarn width until the gap between the weavingyarns is completely eliminated by only one movement of the cylindricalbody 4. Then, a means for making the cylindrical body 4 passing throughthe same parts several times to sequentially widen the yarn width ispreferable, and therefore, it is preferable to reciprocate thecylindrical body 4 in the direction of the warp.

Though the yarn width of various reinforcing fiber woven fabrics can befully widened by the above principle, the binding force of the warp andweft is strong and the weaving yarns are hardly moved in the case of ausual woven fabric in which the weaving yarns 2,3 are woven at highdensity and are firmly interlaced each other.

Then, the method of the invention exhibits the effect when producing theflat yarn woven fabric woven by the thick non-twist reinforcing fiberyarn having the fineness of, particularly, 400 to 4,000 TEX, and whichis a low areal weight woven fabric of 80 to 300 g/m² woven in the largepitch of the weaving yarn of 5 to 32 mm. That is, though the weavingyarns converged during weaving become narrower easily and cause a gapbetween the weaving yarns in the low areal weight woven fabricconsisting of the thick reinforcing fiber yarn, the occurrence of suchgap is prevented according to the method of the invention, and the wovenfabric having no gap between the weaving yarns can be manufactured.

As the reinforcing fiber yarn used for the method for producing thereinforcing fiber woven fabric of the invention, a carbon fiber, a glassfiber, an aramid fiber, a synthetic fiber having high strength or thelike can be used. Among these, the carbon fiber having high specifictensile strength and specific modulus is preferable. When producing theflat yarn woven fabric using the flat yarn consisting of the thickcarbon fiber yarn as the form of the reinforcing fiber, it is necessaryto keep the flat state of the carbon fiber held in the flat shape bysizing agent during weaving. Since the form of the flat yarn is held bya sizing agent, the flat state is crushed by the following factor in theweaving step, and the woven fabric cannot be made by keeping the nearlysame yarn width as that of the weaving yarn pitch. The weaving yarn endsup with narrower in width, and the woven fabric having the gap betweenthe weaving yarns is made.

Since the producing method of the invention widens the weaving yarnwhile rolling the cylindrical body 4 in the pressurization state, theproducing method has a feature that the yarn width can be widened evenif the sizing agent is adhered to the carbon fiber yarn and the fibersare adhered with each other. In the invention, this feature is effectivefor widening the yarn width of the reinforcing fiber consisting of thecarbon fiber yarn to which a sizing agent of 0.5 to 2.0% is adhered.

Since the binding force of the warp 2 and weft 3 is fortunately veryweak in the woven fabric using the above carbon fiber flat yarn for thereinforcing fiber and the woven fabric has almost no resistanceinhibiting the spread property due to the interlacing, it is easilyspread in the direction of the woven fabric plane by applying pressureon the woven fabric.

The flat yarn woven fabric 1 consisting of the above carbon fiber haspreferably the thick non-twist carbon fiber yarns having the fineness of400 to 4,000 TEX and the number of filament of 6,000 to 50,000 as atleast the warp 2, arranged in the large weaving yarn pitch of 5 to 32mm. It is preferable that the weaving yarn pitch relates to the finenessof the carbon fiber yarn to be used, and the carbon fiber flat yarnwoven fabric has the following relationship.P=k−T ^(1/2)

wherein P: weaving yarn pitch (mm),

-   -   T: fineness of reinforcing fiber (TEX),    -   k: (18 to 50)×10⁻²

That is, the above formula shows that the woven fabric should has theweaving yarn pitch comparatively small when using the carbon fiber yarnhaving the small fineness and woven fabric should has the large weavingyarn pitch when using the carbon fiber yarn having the small fineness.The above range of the constant k is important in the flat yarn wovenfabric to which the above formula is applied. The constant k of lessthan 18×10² reduces the weaving yarn pitch, and the flat yarn wovenfabric gets close to the usual carbon fiber woven fabric. Since thewoven fabric has small gap formed between the weaving yarns, the wovenfabric has no necessity of widening of the width of the weaving yarn.

On the other hand, when the constant k exceeds 50×10 ⁻², there worksalmost no binding force to the weaving yarn, and the woven fabricbecomes very loose. Since winding tension is applied to the warp set inthe direction for reciprocating the cylindrical body in the invention,the yarn width can be widened without messing around the arrangement.Since the tension is not applied and the arrangement is easily messed upreferring to the weft, the weft is moved in a meandering manner by themovement of the cylindrical body.

The woven fabric 1 is preferably a uni-directional woven fabriccomprised of the thick non-twist reinforcing fiber having the finenessof 400 to 4,000 TEX arranged in the direction of the warp 2 in theweaving yarn pitch of 4 to 16 mm, integrated by the weft 3 consisting ofthe thin auxiliary yarn having the fineness of 1 to 30 TEX, andsatisfying the relationship between the fineness of the reinforcingfiber yarn and the weaving yarn pitch as follows.P=k−T ^(1/2)

wherein P: weaving yarn pitch (mm),

-   -   T: fineness of reinforcing fiber (TEX),    -   k: (10 to 28)×10²

The weft consisting of an auxiliary yarn in the uni-directional wovenfabric is mainly used for integrating the warp arranged by interlacingwith the reinforcing fiber yarn. The weft as the auxiliary yarn ispreferably the thin yarn so as to reduce the crimp of the reinforcingfiber yarn due to the interlacing as much as possible.

When the weft is the thin yarn of less than 1 TEX, the force forintegrating the warp of the reinforcing fiber lacks, and the weft is cutby the small external force. Thereby, the object of the integrationcannot be attained.

On the other hand, when the fineness of the weft exceeds 30 TEX, thecrimp is generated in the warp of the reinforcing fiber yarn by theinterlacing, or the weft is generated in the convex shape on the surfaceof the reinforcing fiber ending up with making the surface unevennesslarger. The fineness of the weft is preferably 1 to 10 TEX. Though therelationship of the fineness and pitch of the reinforcing fiber at thetime of limiting to the uni-directional reinforcing fiber woven fabricis the same as that of the above description, the weft of theuni-directional woven fabric in the invention has the very thin finenessand the binding force in the interlacing part of the warp yarn and weftyarn is small. The constant k is preferably 0.01 to 0.28 as a valuesmaller than the above case.

As described above, in the manufacture of the flat yarn woven fabricmade of the carbon fiber having the relationship of the fineness andweaving yarn pitch of the above carbon fiber yarn, the method forproducing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric using the method forwidening the yarn width as the feature of the invention widens the yarnwidth while rolling the cylindrical body in the pressurization state onthe woven fabric. Thereby, the operation effect is greatly exhibited.

The producing method of the invention reciprocates the cylindrical body4 in the direction of the warp yarn to widen the width. Since thesection of the yarn bundle in which filaments gather referring to thewarp 2 is continuously and sequentially widened in the yarn axialdirection, the yarn width can be effectively widened. However, since thesection of the yarn bundle is only momentarily crushed referring to theweft 3, the widening effect is less than that of the warp.

Then, so as to solve this problem, referring to the weft 3, after theweft of the woven fabric is previously opened and widened by air jetinjection, the cylindrical body can be smoothly rolled by the method forwidening the warp by the cylindrical body, and that is preferablebecause the yarn width of the warp and weft can be certainly widened. Insuch an opening widening apparatus using the air jet, for example, anozzle having air injection holes having a diameter of 0.2 to 0.5 mm andarranged in the pitch of several mm is provided so as to face thesurface of the woven fabric in parallel with the direction of weft ofthe woven fabric woven on the loom, and the weft is opened and the yarnwidth is widened at the same time when the woven fabric passes whileinjecting air. At this time, since the winding tension is applied to thewarp 2, it is difficult to widen the yarn width of the warp by the airjet. Thus, when the weft 3 is previously opened, the yarn width of thenarrow warp can be opened while the cylindrical body 4 is smoothlyrotated. Simultaneously, a portion where the spread is a littleinsufficient can be also widened by the air opening.

When the method for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric of theinvention is used for the method for producing the flat yarn wovenfabric made of the carbon fiber, the weave style is not particularlylimited, and may be the plain weave, the twill weave and the satinorganization. However, the plain weave in which the warp and the weftinterlace alternatively is preferable since it is hard to generate thewoven fabric slippage.

In the producing method of the invention, when a sealing woven fabric ismanufactured by inserting a low melting point resin fiber in thedirection of the warp and/or the weft in the woven fabric and by heatingthe woven fabric to the softening point or melting point of the lowmelting point resin fiber or the higher to stick the reinforcing fiberseach other, the weaving yarn is heated after the weaving yarn is widenedby the above widening method of reciprocating the cylindrical body inthe direction of the warp of the woven fabric while rolling thecylindrical body in the pressurization state to woven fabric on thewoven fabric into which the low melting point resin fiber is inserted.Thereby, the weaving yarn is adhered in a state where the weaving yarnis widened, and the molding material of woven fabric in which thereinforcing fiber is uniformly dispersed can be provided, which hasexcellent handling without changing the woven fabric structure at thetime of future handling can be provided.

As an embodiment of the method of inserting the low melting point resinfiber, there is a method in which the resin fiber is pulled, arrangedand supplied to the warp and/or the weft of the carbon fiber at the timeof weaving in the case of a bi-directional woven fabric. In the case ofa uni-directional woven fabric using the thin auxiliary yarn as the weftfor the warp of the carbon fiber, the low melting point resin fiber ispulled and arranged together with the auxiliary yarn. The insertion canbe secured by using a covering yarn which has a core/ sheathconfiguration as the auxiliary yarn and by making the sheath portion ofthe low melting point resin fiber.

The core yarn of the covering yarn having a core/sheath configuration ispreferably the fiber yarn which causes almost no heat shrinkage at theheating temperature at the time of performing the heat fusion of the lowmelting point resin and has the shrinkage percentage of 1% or lower inthe dry heating condition of 150° C. The core yarn is preferably thethin fineness yarn consisting of a glass fiber, an aramid fiber yarn ora vinylon fiber.

Examples of the low melting point resins include copolymer nylon andcopolymer polyester having a melting point of 90 to 180° C.

In the producing method of the invention, a reinforcing material inwhich reinforcing fiber is uniformly dispersed can be provided byapplying and adhesion of the powdery or fibrous resin after the wideningstep of the weaving yarn similarly, even when a woven fabric is going tobe stabilized, be piled up and adhere each other, or undergo to theinterlayer toughening by applying and adhesion of the powdery or fibrousresin on one side or both sides of the woven fabric

Examples of the resins for being applied and adhered include athermosetting resin or a thermoplastic resin. Examples of thethermosetting resin include epoxy, phenol, unsaturated polyester,vinylester, and a resin including a curing agent or a catalyst. Examplesof the thermoplastic resins include polyester, polyamide, polyurethane,polyether sulfone, a copolymer a modifier and a mixture of two or morekinds thereof. The adhering amount of the powdery or fibrous resin atthis time is preferably 2 to 20% by weight although it is according tothe object. The adhering amount of the resin is preferably larger inview of the form stability of the woven fabric. However, when theadhering amount of the resin exceeds 20% by weight, the whole surface ofthe woven fabric is covered by the resin, and the impregnation of amatrix resin is inhibited in the case of the injection-mold of theresin. The adhering amount of the resin exceeding 20% by weight requiresfor the impregnation for a long time, and a non-impregnation part isformed.

On the other hand, when the adhering amount of the resin is less than 2%by weight, the powdery or fibrous resin cannot be uniformly dispersed onthe surface of the woven fabric. Since parts where the reinforcingfibers do not adhere each other exist, the shape retainability of thewoven fabric is inadequate, the optimal adhering amount is the aboverange.

The resin can be adhered on the surface of the woven fabric by uniformlyapplying the powdery resin on the woven fabric in which the yarn widthof the weaving yarn is widened and heating it when the powder is used asthe resin in the method of applying or adhering it on the woven fabric1. The resin can be also adhered by passing the woven fabric through aheating roller. The resin can be adhered on the woven fabric by heatfusion or needling in the case of using the fiber as the form of thenon-woven fabric.

It is possible to adhere at comparatively low temperature by mixing thelow melting point resin of 10 to 40% by weight when performing a heatfusion by using melt blow and span bond or the like as the non-wovenfabric. As described above, since the whole surface of the woven fabricis not covered with the resin by adhering the powdery or fibrous resinon the surface of the woven fabric, the channel of the matrix resin issecured, and the impregnation of the resin is not prevented.

Next, the apparatus for the woven fabric according to the invention willbe explained using FIGS. 3 to 5.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the preferred arrangement example of thecylindrical body 4 of FIG. 1. The yarn width of each yarn constitutingthe woven fabric is continuously widened by reciprocating thecylindrical body 4 with a fixed amplitude in the direction of the warpon the woven fabric 1 coming into contact with the guide roller 5 whilemoving the woven fabric 1 in a C direction of FIG. 3 along the surfaceof the guide roller 5 capable of being rotated. Though the illustrationis omitted, the cylindrical body 4 is rotatably supported by a suitableroller bearing to the both ends of one shaft, and the cylindrical body 4can be reciprocated in the direction of the warp by a means forsupporting the central part of the axis and reciprocating. The pressureforce to the woven fabric 1 can be suitably adjusted by a forcing means.

The cylindrical guide roller 5 is a rotating roller having a diameter ofabout 100 to about 500 mm and having a smooth surface, and the guideroller 5 is passively rotated according to the movement of the wovenfabric by the frictional force when the woven fabric comes into contactwith the surface of the guide roller 5.

Thus, the woven fabric 1 is abutted at a suitable winding angle to theperipheral curved surface of the guide roller 5, the tensility in thedirection of the warp of the woven fabric acts in the direction of thecentral axis of the guide roller 5. Therefore, the high friction forceacts on the contacting surface of the guide roller and woven fabric 1,and the weft of the woven fabric 1 is not shifted even when thecylindrical body 4 (widening roller) is reciprocated over the wovenfabric, and the weaving yarn can be widened.

Though one cylindrical body over the full width of the woven fabric maybe used as arrangement of the cylindrical body 4, it is difficult to puta pressure uniformly over the full width of the woven fabric by such along cylindrical body. Therefore, though the illustration is omitted inthe embodiment, the length of the cylindrical body is preferably 10 to200 mm, and more preferably 10 to 50 mm. Two cylindrical bodies areattached to the both ends of a shaft in a state where the cylindricalbodies can be rotated by bearings. Since each shaft supports the centralpart and the load acts, uniform pressure can be put on the woven fabricby each roller. In the figures, two of the cylindrical bodies 4 of atwo-piece unit are arranged in one sequence, and are arranged as onegroup in back to front two sequences. However, it is necessary toprovide a support for supporting the shaft between two cylindricalbodies in the method, and there exits an interval which does notparticipate to the pressing of the roller between two cylindricalbodies. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, it is preferable that thecylindrical bodies 4 of a two-piece unit are alternately staggered inthe direction of the movement of the woven fabric, and thereby theweaving yarn can be uniformly widened over the full width of wovenfabric.

At this time, the movement speed in B direction of the woven fabric 1,that is, the weaving speed of the woven fabric is preferably low speedas much as possible since the speed of the reciprocation of thecylindrical body 4 is mechanically limited. However, the range of 0.2 to2.0 m/min is preferable for the range which does not influencemanufacture cost. When the yarn width widening apparatus shown in FIG. 3is particularly provided while weaving between the cloth fell of theloom and the winding rolls of the woven fabric, it is preferably thatthe widening device can be provided in the same loom without being basedon another step. Thus, when widening on the loom, another winding deviceis provided behind the loom as the winding device of the woven fabric,and the above guide roller 5 is provided. The width of the weaving yarncan be widened on the roller.

FIG. 5 is a partial side view of an apparatus for reciprocating a pairof the widening rollers 4 of back to front two unit in the direction ofthe warp while forcing with the suitable pressure to the surface of thewoven fabric 1 on the guide roller 5. The central part of the shaft towhich the cylindrical body 4 is attached is fixed to a horseshoe-shapedsupporting arm 6, and the cylindrical bodies 4 of four units areattached to one supporting arm 6. Each supporting arm 6 is coupled withthe pressing member 8, and the pressing member 8 performs a crankreciprocation around a rotation shaft 0 by a reciprocation drivecoupling rod 7. The driving member 8 can perform a rocking movement inparallel in a concentric circle shape with the circle of the guideroller 5 by the guide 9 (not shown), and the compression spring 10 isinterposed between the supporting arm 6 and the pressing member 8, andthe pressure of the cylindrical body 4 is applied to one surface of thewoven fabric in the pressing operation in the direction of the roller 5of the compression spring 10. Though the diameter of the cylindricalbody 4 is preferably is smaller as much as possible since high linearpressure can be applied by the same pressing load, the minimum diameteris determined from the bearing size since a bearing is incorporated inso as to make the rotation smooth. The diameter of the cylindrical bodyis 12 to 60 mm, and more preferably 12 to 20 mm.

The diameter of the cylindrical body 4 is preferably smaller as much aspossible since high linear pressure is generated even in the samepressing load. However, when the diameter is set to less than 12 mm, asmall bearing is formed and the cylindrical body 4 cannot sustain thehigh pressure. Thereby, it is necessary to set the diameter to 12 mm ormore.

Though it is preferable that the length of the cylindrical body 4 islarger in view of the manufacture side, the length is preferably 200 mmor less so as to uniformly disperse the load in the longitudinaldirection of the cylindrical body, and more preferably 50 mm or less.The surface of the cylindrical body is a preferably a smooth surface soas not to damage the carbon fiber, and the end part is preferablychamfered. Since particularly, the carbon fiber having high elasticmodulus is brittle and easily damaged, the surface of the cylindricalbody may be coated with a rubber.

Next, the reinforcing fiber woven fabric 1 used for the producing methodof the invention will be described.

The woven fabric 1 uses reinforcing fiber yarns as the warp 2 and theweft 3, and the thick non-twist reinforcing fiber yarn having thefineness of 400 to 4,000 TEX is arranged in a large pitch. The finenessand weaving yarn pitch of the reinforcing fiber yarn have the followingrelationship. The opening ratio produced at the interlacing part of thewarp and weft is 0.3 or less, and the size of an opening part is 1 mm²or lower.P=k−T ^(1/2)

wherein P: weaving yarn pitch (mm),

-   -   T: fineness of reinforcing fiber (TEX),    -   k: (18 to 50)×10⁻²

When the reinforcing fiber is the carbon fiber, the fiber reinforcedplastic having high specific tensile strength and specific modulus ispreferably obtained.

As described in the prior art, weaving the low fiber a real weightcarbon fiber woven fabric having the fiber a real weight of 80 to 300g/m², which is conventionally woven by the thin carbon fiber yarn offineness of 200 TEX or less, with the thick carbon fiber having thefineness of 400 to 4,000 TEX, the productivity of the woven fabricincreases 2 to 20 times. Also, the manufacture cost of the thick carbonfiber yarn is inexpensive, the carbon fiber woven fabric of low cost canbe provided.

Since the weaving yarn section of the thick carbon fiber has a flatshape and the weaving yarns interlace each other, the carbon fiberreinforced plastic having small crimp of the weaving yarn and exhibitinghigh mechanical property is expected.

However, it is difficult to make the woven fabric which has no gapbetween the weaving yarns and in which the carbon fiber is uniformlydispersed while keeping the flat shape of the thick carbon fiber flatyarn, and the woven fabric in which the opening part is formed in theinterlacing part of the warp and weft is made. The opening part producedin the interlacing part of the warp and weft can be reduced by the yarnwidth widening method described above, and the woven fabric forreinforcement exhibiting the excellent mechanical property is obtained.

Here, the above opening ratio can be get by sampling from threedifferent places of a woven fabric having the length of 1 m so as toinclude at least ten or more of the warp 2 and weft 3 and by. measuringthe interval and the width of ten of the warp and the weft at eachsample by a slide caliper by 0.1 mm. The opening ratio can be calculatedby the following formula (1) from each average value.Opening Ratio (%) $\begin{matrix}{= {\frac{\begin{matrix}{\left( {{{the}{\quad\quad}{warp}{\quad\quad}{interval}} - {{the}\quad{warp}{\quad\quad}{width}}} \right) \times} \\\left( {{{the}{\quad\quad}{weft}\quad{interval}} - {{the}{\quad\quad}{weft}{\quad\quad}{width}}} \right)\end{matrix}}{\left( {{the}\quad{warp}{\quad\quad}{{interval} \times {the}}\quad{weft}{\quad\quad}{interval}} \right)} \times 100}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

The opening area is the value of the numerator of the above formula.Though a yarn interval is the distance between the central lines ofadjoining weaving yarn, the yarn interval should be the distance betweenthe end part of the yarn width direction and the end part of theadjoining yarn when the opening ratio and opening area are calculated inthe invention.

The opening ratio of the woven fabric of the invention is 0.3% or less,and the area of one opening part is 1 mm² or less.

When the woven fabric impregnated with the resin is molded to the carbonfiber plastic, a molded object in which a resin rich part does not existis obtained since there is almost no opening part. The high mechanicalproperty is exhibited, and the excellent surface grade can be obtained.When stresses act on a carbon fiber reinforced plastic having a resinrich part, the resin rich part becomes a starting point of destruction,and the carbon fiber reinforced plastic is destroyed by low load. Also,a hollow is generated in the resin rich part by the consolidation andshrinkage of the resin. In the drying step of the solvent in the case ofproducing prepreg by a flat weaving yarn and by a WET-prepreg method fordipping the woven fabric in which the large opening exists at theinterlacing part of the warp and weft in the resin diluted by thesolvent and impregnating the resin, the opening part can contain theresin only to the film thickness when the surface tension of the resinacts. Thereby, the flat carbon fiber yarn of the neighbors of theopening part is roundly converged, and the opening part is greatlyopened to form prepreg. When the area of the opening part is 1 mm ²orlower, the opening part can contain the resin sufficiently. Since thesurface tension acts also to the resin existing in the opening part atthe time of dryness of the solvent, the opening part is not enlarged.

EXAMPLE AND COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE

Hereinafter, Example and Comparative Example of the invention will beexplained.

Example 1

In FIG. 1, the carbon fiber flat yarn having the number of filaments of12,000, the tensile strength of 4800 MPa, the tensile elastic modulus of230 GPa and the yarn width of 6 mm is used as the warp 2 and the weft 3.The flat yarn woven fabric 1 having the flat organization is woven by arapier loom at the number of rotations of 80 RPM and the density wherethe weaving yarn pitches of the warp and the weft are respectively setto 8.3 mm.

Next, until the winding step, the weft 3 is opened and widened by an airjet injection of a supply air pressure of 0.5 Pa. The widening processis then performed by the widening method due to the cylindrical body 4explained in FIG. 5. Referring to the widening process condition, thepressing load to the widening roller 4 is set to about 200 g per thelength of 1 cm of one widening roller. The widening rollers are arrangedat four sequences, and the amplitude (the direction of B of figure) isset to 50 mm. The frequency is set to two times/second.

Referring to the size of the cylindrical body 4, the diameter and thelength are respectively set to 12 mm and 15 mm. The evaluation resultsof the woven fabrics before and after air jet process and woven fabricwhose yarns are widened by the widening method due to the cylindricalbody of the invention are shown in Table 1.

As a result, though the width of the weft is largely widened by the airjet process, the width of the warp is slightly narrow by the air jetprocess, and the width of the warp is largely widened in the directionof A by the yarn width widening method due to the widening rollerprocess. The woven fabric in which the widths of both the warp and theweft are widened and which is very uniform having no gap in theinterlacing part of the warp and weft is obtained.

Comparative Examples 1, 2

On the other hand, though the woven fabrics of Comparative examples 1, 2are woven by the same method as Example 1, the woven fabric which doesnot use the opening widening process step due to the air jet injectionand widening process step due to the cylindrical body 4 of the producingmethod of the invention is set to Comparative Example 1, and the wovenfabric in which only the weft is opened by the air jet (woven fabricwhich does not use the widening process step due to the cylindrical body4 of the producing method of the invention of) is set to ComparativeExample 2. Those are shown in the following Table.

As a result, though the yarn width of the woven fabric of ComparativeExample 1 is a little larger than the yarn width of the used carbonfiber flat yarn, the gap is generated in the interlacing part of thewarp and the weft since the yarn widths are narrow to the weaving yarninterval, and the opening ratio is 3.3%. Large openings having themaximum opening area of 4.5 mm² exist.

Though the weft is widened by the air jet in the woven fabric ofComparative Example 2 and the width of the weft yarn is wide, the wovenfabric has openings at the interlacing part of the warp and the weftsince the width of the warp is narrow, where the openings are smallerthan that of the woven fabric of Comparative Example 1. The woven fabrichas the opening ratio of 0.4%. Although the opening ratio of the wovenfabric of Comparative Example 2 is small, the width of the warp isnarrow, thus the warp part is projected to the surface of the wovenfabric and the woven fabric has the uneven surface.

The following Table 1 summarizes the Examples and Comparative Examples.TABLE 1 Manufacture The Warp The Weft Area of Condition Weaving YarnWeaving Yarn Maximum Air Widening of Interval Yarn Weaving Yarn IntervalYarn Weaving Yarn Opening Opening Opening the Invention Width (mm)Interval (mm) Width (mm) Interval (mm) ratio (%) Part (mm²) Example 1Presence Presence 8.3 7.9 8.3 8.3 0 0 Comparative None None 8.3 7.1 8.36.4 3.3 4.5 Example 1 Comparative Presence None 8.3 6.9 8.3 8.1 0.4 1.5Example 2

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

According to the invention, the width of the weaving yarn can beeffectively widened in the width direction of the woven fabric since theproduction method and the apparatus put a woven fabric consisting of thereinforcing fiber in the pressurization state by the cylindrical bodiesrolling and reciprocating in the direction of the warp. Therefore, thefiber reinforced plastic product in which the reinforcing fiber isuniformly dispersed can be obtained as the base material forreinforcement of end products.

Particularly, the widening method used in the method for producing thereinforcing fiber woven fabric of the invention is a method in which acylindrical body is reciprocated to the woven fabric while rolling inthe direction of the warp to widen the width of the weaving yarn evenwhen the reinforcing woven fabric is the woven fabric in which wovenfabric slippage is easily generated as in the flat yarn woven fabricmade of the carbon fiber. Thereby, the yarn width can be securelywidened without disturbing the arrangement of the weaving yarn as in theprior art. Therefore, the woven fabric having no gap between the weavingyarns can be obtained.

Since the producing method and apparatus of the invention are verysimple, the yarn width widening processing can be continuously performedon the loom.

Thereby, the producing method and apparatus for the invention can bewidely used in fields such as the airplane member and the generalindustrial use.

1. A method for producing a reinforcing fiber woven fabric in which areinforcing fiber is woven as at least a warp, the method comprising thestep of reciprocating a cylindrical body in the direction of the warp ofthe woven fabric on the woven fabric while the cylindrical body isrolled in a pressurization state to the woven fabric to widen the yarnwidth at least of the warp constituting the woven fabric in thedirection of a weft.
 2. The method for producing the reinforcing fiberwoven fabric according to claim 1, wherein the pressure force of thecylindrical body to the woven fabric is 100 to 2000 g per 1 cm of thelength of the axial direction of the cylindrical body.
 3. The method forproducing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric according to claim 2,wherein a widening rate for widening the yarn width of the warp in thedirection of the weft is 2 to 50%.
 4. The method for producing thereinforcing fiber woven fabric according to claim 1, wherein thickreinforcing fiber yarns of non-twist having a fineness of 400 to 4000TEX are arranged in a weaving yarn pitch of 5 to 32 mm, and the finenessand weaving yarn pitch of the reinforcing fiber yarn have the followingrelationship,P=k−T ^(1/2) wherein P: weaving yarn pitch (mm), T: fineness ofreinforcing fiber (TEX), k: (18 to 50)×10⁻².
 5. The method for producingthe reinforcing fiber woven fabric according to claim 1, wherein thickreinforcing fiber yarns of non-twist having a fineness of 400 to 4,000TEX are arranged in a weaving yarn pitch of 4 to 16 mm; the woven fabricis a uni-directional woven fabric integrated by the weft of a thinauxiliary yarn having a fineness of 1 to 30 TEX; and the fineness andweaving yarn pitch of the reinforcing fiber yarn have the followingrelationship.P=k−T^(1/2) wherein P: weaving yarn (warp yarn) pitch (mm), T: finenessof reinforcing fiber (TEX), k: (10 to 28)×10⁻².
 6. The method forproducing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric according to claim 1,wherein the reinforcing fiber is a carbon fiber.
 7. The method forproducing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric according to claim 6,wherein the number of filaments of the carbon fiber is 6000 to
 50000. 8.The method for producing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric according toclaim 1, wherein a plurality of cylindrical bodies are alternatelystaggered in the direction of the warp yarn to widen the yarn width ofthe woven fabric.
 9. The method for producing the reinforcing fiberwoven fabric according to claim 1, wherein the woven fabric is moved inthe direction of the warp along the surface of a guide roller capable ofbeing rotated to continuously widen the yarn width of the woven fabriccontacting with the surface of the guide roller.
 10. The method forproducing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric according to claim 1,wherein the yarn width is widened between a cloth fell of a loom and awinding roll of the woven fabric.
 11. The method for producing thereinforcing fiber woven fabric according to claim 1, wherein an averagespeed for reciprocating the cylindrical body is 50 to 300 mm/second. 12.A method for producing a reinforcing fiber woven fabric, wherein thewoven fabric is a flat yarn woven fabric having a warp and weftconsisting of a carbon fiber yarn and having a flat woven fabric ofplain weave, the method comprising the steps of: opening and wideningthe weft by air jet injection from injection holes lined in thedirection of the weft of the woven fabric; and widening the yarn widthin the direction of the weft by the method of claim
 1. 13. A method forproducing a reinforcing fiber woven fabric, comprising: a weaving stepof weaving a woven fabric while inserting a low melting point resinfiber in the direction of a warp or a weft; a widening step of wideninga yarn width by the method for producing according to claim 1; and asticking step of heating the woven fabric to the softening point ormelting point of the low melting point resin fiber or higher to stickthe reinforcing fibers with each other or a reinforcing fiber and anauxiliary yarn by the low melting point resin.
 14. The method forproducing the reinforcing fiber woven fabric according to claim 1,further comprising the step of applying and adhering a powdery orfibrous resin on one side or both sides of the reinforcing fiber wovenfabric, wherein the adhering amount of the resin is 2 to 20% by weightof the woven fabric.
 15. An apparatus for producing a reinforcing fiberwoven fabric, comprising: a guide roller which comes into contact withthe surface of a reinforcing woven fabric continuously passing throughat a predetermined winding angle and rotate; a plurality of cylindricalbodies rotatably supported on the woven fabric which comes into contactwith the surface of the guide roller; and a driving part forreciprocating the cylindrical bodies in the direction of the warp of thewoven fabric.
 16. The apparatus for producing the reinforcing fiberwoven fabric according to claim 15, wherein the cylindrical body has adiameter of 10 to 40 mm and a length of 10 to 50 mm, and cylindricalbodies are alternately staggered in the direction of the warp of thewoven fabric.